Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I'm back again! Here's chapter nine, all ready for you to read and review (nudge nudge, hint hint). I'm still not sure where this is going. We'll just have to wait and see………..

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Li woke up the next morning and it was still dark out. He could still hear her crying for him not to leave her again. He realized that he had been holding his breath, and let it out slowly. A sliver of moonlight fell across his face. He shivered from the coldness in the room. After living in Hong Kong for so long, he had almost forgotten what the autumn nights could be like in the Tomeda district. He knew it was no use trying to get back to sleep. He almost didn't want to, for fear of having another dream, so he lay in bed, thinking things over.

He kept seeing Melin in the dream, standing there gazing at him with a satisfied look on her face. What did that look mean, anyways? It looked to him like she was gloating about something, and he didn't want to find out what that something was.

Just a few weeks before, he'd been pretty screwed up, but now that he was with Sakura, everything was okay. She was his other half, and when he was with her, everything seemed right. He thought about maybe telling Sakura about his dream, but finally decided once again that it would make her worry over nothing.

He finally surrendered to his drooping eyelids and drifted back to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When he woke up again four hours later, he plastered a smile onto his face, hoping nobody would realize how he was really feeling, but the smile quickly faded, because he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up all day.

He went downstairs and into the kitchen silently, being careful to keep a safe distance away from Kero so that he didn't get gloop all over himself again.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked as he pulled a bowl out of the cupboard.

"Just a bad dream."

"Come on Syaoran, that's exactly the same look you'd get when you were a kid and there was something wrong. Tell .Me .What. It. Is."

"Nothing's wrong! I just didn't get much sleep last night, okay? Is there something wrong with that?!" he raised his voice considerably.

"Excuse me for caring!" she threw the orange juice container back into the fridge and slammed the door, making the refrigerator wobble as if it was about to fall over. There was a long silence, in which the only sound was crunching.

"Look Sakura, I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling that good today. I shouldn't have jumped at you like that."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He thought for a moment, on the verge of saying yes. "No."

"Alright. I won't bug you about it anymore."

He almost wished she would bug him some more. It was killing him that he couldn't tell anyone about his fear. After all, that was the 'man' thing to do, right? Hide your problems and not drag the people you love into it? Either way, he decided it was, so he just thought about it to himself while he chewed his breakfast cereal.

Sakura's dad came downstairs.

"Good morning kids."

"Morning dad."

"Morning, Mr. Kinomoto."

"Sakura, how many times do I have to tell you, stuffed animals don't eat food," Her father said as he picked Kero up by the tail and threw him across the room onto the couch.

"Sorry dad. Old habits die hard, I guess." She stifled a giggle as a muffled obscenity came from across the room and Aiden looked to see where it had come from.

"I'm going to be home early tonight. What should I make for dinner? Is lasagna okay?"

"Sure dad. Whatever you make, I'm sure it will be good."

"Not to mention that you won't have to cook it yourself?" He raised an eyebrow at his daughter.

"We'd better be going soon. Don't want to be late for school," she said cheerfully.

"What's the matter, Li? Is there something bothering you?"

Li wondered to himself if he was really that readable.

"No, I'm fine Kinomoto-san. It's just that I didn't sleep too well. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Okay then. I'll see you kids after school," he said as Li and Sakura left the table and headed for the door.

"Bye dad!"

"Goodnight…I mean, goodbye." Li shook his head at himself. He truly was tired.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Li was about ready to fall asleep for the rest of the day. He actually did in history class. Terada sensei was spouting off names and dates to the rest of the class (Half of which was asleep anyways), when he spotted Li in the middle of the room with his head down on his open textbook, snoozing peacefully. He walked over and brought his meter stick down on the corner of his desk with such a loud snap that Li's head shot straight up (along with the rest of those who were sleeping)

"Attila the Hun?!" Li yelled.

The rest of the class snickered at him.

Terada sensei looked at him sternly.

"What?" Li asked innocently, looking back at him and rubbing one eye.

"I'll speak to you in the hall." Li got that sinking feeling in his stomach. "The rest of you start working on the chapter I've assigned." He told the class.

Li followed Mr. Terada into the hall.

"Li, what's going on? You've been one of my best students, even when I was teaching at the elementary school. You've never fallen asleep in class before."

"Maybe it was just because this lesson was exceptionally boring." He yawned, then realized his mistake, "I mean-um…I…" he turned red.

Mr. Terada gave him the look.

"Sorry. I'll try to stay awake." he stretched his arms and yawned again.

"Good idea. You'll have to copy today's note from someone, now let's get back to class."

Student followed teacher back into the room, and Li tried to keep his eyes open in the dimly lit room for the next half hour. It was lucky for him that Zachary was there to nudge him every time he fell asleep and was about to fall over out of his seat.

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Sakura met Li after school to walk home.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Tired."

"I heard. Someone told me you fell asleep in history class."

"I d-d-di-id." He yawned. "How are you feeling?" he asked, referring to her neck.

"Oh, it's itching really bad, but other than that it's okay."

"I hope you have enough strength to drag me home if I pass out in the middle of the road."

"My hero," she muttered. He smiled back at her sleepily and kissed her on the cheek. They walked the rest of the way home in silence

for the most part.

When they walked in the door, Aiden was in the kitchen cooking supper.

"How was school?" he asked Sakura.

"It was okay. Nobody brought bombs or anything."

"That's always good to hear, but I really wish you wouldn't joke about things like that."

"Sorry dad." She watched him lay a giant noodle over the top of the meat and cheese.

"Where's Syaoran?"

"Probably asleep on the couch."

"Still tired is he? What's he been doing, running marathons behind our backs? You'd think he hadn't slept in days."

"Something gives me the feeling that he hasn't."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "What would give you that feeling?"

"I don't know. He's just been acting weird lately." She looked around the corner, and sure enough, there he was, passed out on the couch with (For some strange reason) Kero snuggled up to his neck. "Yep. Definitely acting weird." He still had his shoes on.

"It's probably just stress. He's going through a lot, by the sound of it."

"Hmmm. Maybe."

"I hope you're hungry." He presented his finished pasta to her, all ready to be cooked.

"You're making enough to feed a family of twelve!"

"That means you won't have to cook for that much longer." He put it in the oven.

Sakura groaned. "I hate leftovers."

"Then you'll just have to eat a lot tonight."

She threw her hands up in the air and walked out of the kitchen to wake Li up. As she stood beside him, she considered covering his mouth and plugging his nose to wake him up, but then decided that he probably wouldn't like that very much. Instead she sat down on the edge of the couch and shook him gently.

"Syaoran, wake up." She sang gently.

"Hmmm?" one of his eyes flickered open.

"Hey, come on get up. Other people live here too. You can't hog all the furniture to yourself."

He was sprawled out over the entire length of the couch.

"Oh, sorry." He stretched his arms and breathed deeply.

"What's with you two?"

"Huh?" he looked at her like she was insane.

"You and Kero? You seem to be getting along much better than yesterday."

"Oh," he blushed as he realized that he still had a little yellow ball of fluff clinging to his neck. "I called a truce."

"Wow, I'm impressed."

"You should be. I had to buy him a box of Twinkies to get him to finally agree."

"Let's hope they hold out longer than the last box. Move over. I want to watch TV."

"Forget it. First come first serve."

"Oh, that's real nice! You're supposed to worship the ground I walk on!"

He grinned at her. "Since when?"

"Since forever." She grinned back as he reached out and began to tickle her, pulling her closer. Kero woke up just in time to be squashed between the two as Sakura fell into him. She was giggling madly when the doorbell rang.

"Sakura, can you get that? I have a garlic situation here!" her father yelled from the kitchen.

"Just a second!" she yelled, and wriggled out of his grip, still giggling. As she rushed to the door, she heard voices. A lot of chatter, then an authoritative voice speaking in Chinese, telling the chatterers to be quiet so they wouldn't make a bad impression. Sakura shrugged and opened the door a crack, sticking her head out.

Standing on her front porch was a relatively tall woman and four other girls that looked about twenty years younger than her. She had raven black hair, and a stance that seemed to demand the utmost respect. The girls behind her all looked generally happy, with auburn colored hair and cheerful eyes. Sakura stared from face to face, here eyes finally coming to rest once again on the regal beauty of the older lady.

"H-hai?" she stuttered.

"Kinomoto?" the woman asked her.

"Yes," Sakura replied. "Can I help you?" she felt as though she were two feet tall standing in front of this woman.

"I certainly hope so."

Sakura stood there staring for a second. "Oh! Where are my manners? Please, come in." she opened the door fully, and a chilly breeze swept in with them. The girls smiled at her warmly.

Li got up off the couch to go investigate. He was just about to round the corner to the front door when he smelled it. A mixture of lavender and honeysuckle. To anyone else that would have been a calming scent, but not to Syaoran Li, who knew the scent of his mothers perfume a mile away. He turned and crept away as quickly and silently as possible.

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Mr. Kinomoto came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and he had tomato sauce smeared across his cheek.

"Sakura, who is it?" he asked her.

"I, um…who are you?" Sakura asked the lady sheepishly, annoyed with herself that she hadn't even stopped to ask their names before she invited them in.

She regarded Sakura thoughtfully. "I am Syaoran's mother. These are my daughters Saki, Lane, Mina and Kya. I have come to bring my son home."

Sakura's face went pale.

"I-I'll g-go get him." She lowered her head and stared at the floor as she walked away so that they couldn't see the tears that were beginning to form.

"I'm Sakura's father Aiden," he told Li's mother.

"Were we interrupting anything?" She asked him as he wiped his hands on his apron.

"Actually, I was just making dinner. Would you ladies like to have some?"

"No thank you. Once Syaoran comes to me we will be on our way."

"What? You're just going to take him and go, just like that? What about his feelings? What about my daughter?"

"Feelings or not, he has a responsibility to his family. He will return to Hong-Kong with us tonight."

"But that's not fair!"

"Are you implying that I don't know how to run my own family? I believe I have had more experience than you."

"That might be true, but you must take things into consideration. Please, come in and talk with me."

Just then Sakura came back. "He's gone," she said simply, with a blank expression on her face, here eyes threatening to brim over with salty tears as her lip began to tremble slightly. All at once it seemed that Li's sisters couldn't hold back any longer. They all came towards Sakura and embraced her in a tight hug seeing that she was obviously upset. As if suffocating her would make her feel any better about it.

"We better go find him." Aiden said.

"No. He will come back. There is nowhere else for him to go. You said you wanted to talk?"

Kero hovered just outside the doorway listening.

"Yes. Why is it so necessary that he come back to Hong-Kong? I don't mean to offend you, but don't you think that he might have run away in the first place for a reason? Maybe he doesn't want to go back."

"I know he doesn't want to come back, but he is to be the leader of the Li clan. That is his destiny, and he cannot escape it. He has been promised to marry Li Melin Rae, and it would dishonor our family if he didn't fulfill that promise."

Suddenly Sakura totally let everything go.

"For your information, thanks to you and your family honor, he hates his cousin, and he probably hates you too! I'm sorry if you get offended and think I'm a nasty little bitch, but it's a fact! Now since I'm the only one who seems to care about him around here, I'm going to go find him!" tears of rage were trickling down her cheeks now. She ripped the Clow key from its golden chain around her neck and called out the wand as she ran into the street, as she hadn't had to do for years. She used the fly card and soared into the air, high above the ground and began searching for the one thing that meant so much to her. He vision was blurred from the tears that she would blink away, only to have them be replaced by more.

Back at the house, Kero flew around the corner into the living room where he was plainly seen by everyone. He began his guilt trip.

"Clow would be ashamed of you! How can you do this to your own son?!"

Jaws dropped all around the room.

"What's going on here?!" Aiden asked loudly.

"I'll tell you what's going on! You're trying to destroy the purest thing on earth to save your family's name! Sakura and Syaoran have something special, and you have no right to come in here and wreck it for them!" He pointed an accusing finger (paw?) at Li's mother.

"Who are you to speak to me like this?" She demanded from Kero.

"I am Keroberos, the guardian beast of the seal, and now if you'll excuse me, I'll go help my mistress find your kid!" he flew angrily out the open door and muttered, "Witch."

"WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!" A vein was sticking out of Aiden's neck.

~*~*~

Sakura wiped her tears on the sleeve of her school uniform as she flew in search of Li. How could this be happening? Kero flew up beside her panting.

"Sakura, slow down! I can't keep up!"

"I have to find him!"

"Slow_Down!"

"I see him!" she yelled, and pointed to the ground. Li was sitting on the bank of the pond at the park. She swooped down and landed behind him silently, with Kero arriving seconds later. She walked up behind Li with the wand in one hand.

"Li, why did you run?" she whispered.

"Because I'm not going back no matter what she does." He stared into the water.

"Why not?"

"Because I love you. I never want to leave you again."

She sat down beside him and put her head on his shoulder. "I know you're lying."

"How can you say that?! I love you more than anything-" she cut him off.

"How can I say that?! Do you think I've been ignoring you my whole life? I know how you work! If it were that simple you would have just stayed calm and talked it over! There's a problem much deeper here, and I'm not leaving you alone till I figure it out!"

"FINE!" he yelled. At the same time he yelled, a huge rock flew off of the shore and went skidding into the water with a giant splash. Sakura looked behind her in surprise.

"Kero, get lost. This involves me and Sakura," Li said in a forced voice.

"I can take a hint. I'll see you at home." Kero flew home in the dimming sunlight.

"What was that?!" Sakura asked as soon as Kero was out of earshot.

"That is what happens when I get really angry. You've heard of telekinesis?"

"Yes."

"It's a curse. I hate it. A little while after I left to go home it started. Then I couldn't control it. Someone would give me a dirty look at school, and then all of a sudden they would be hit in the side of the head with anything that wasn't bolted down. Everyone started being afraid of me at my new school. I gave one kid a concussion."

"Is that what's wrong?"

"That's what started it. I had some friends, a guy named Kevin and a girl named Lila, but they were nothing like my friends here.

My mother always pressures me to be better than I already am, and without being stuck up I can honestly say that that is extremely difficult when you're me. She was always asking why I wasn't being nicer to Melin, since I was going to be spending the rest of my life with her and all. That gets pretty annoying after a while. This is hard for me to say. I guess it shouldn't be, but it still is. I… I got really depressed about a year after I came home. People would whisper behind my backs, and normally that wouldn't have upset me, but I was really stressed out from schoolwork and training and things, and it just started to eat away at me. I missed all of you here, you the most (Sakura blushed), and it wasn't helping that I couldn't make new friends. It was all because of this stupid power that I got." He skipped a stone across the water with his mind.

"My mother wouldn't even let me call or send letters or anything. She said that I needed to move on, so I tried, but I couldn't. I would always check for mail from you guys, but then I finally remembered that I never told anyone my address, so there was no point. I know I didn't really let on too much, but you guys were the best friends I ever had."

"Have," She corrected him. "We're still your friends."

"My god, I missed you. I was thinking about coming back here, but I didn't know if anyone would care about me here anymore. That's when I heard you calling to me. I thought at first that it was just my imagination because of that Kris guy at the party, but eventually the feeling became so strong that I knew it was real, so I came."

Sakura hugged him tightly.

"I'm so glad you did."

"But now she's going to drag me back. I don't want to go, but I have to."

"No you don't! You can do whatever you want to, and that includes undermining authority."

"Maybe so, but I can't help feeling…like I'm abandoning them."

"What about me? I know it sounds selfish, but how do you think I'd feel if you left me again? I…I don't know what I'd do."

"I don't see any other way. It's the end of the line for me, Sakura. I have to give up. There's no way I can win this one. I'm so sorry." Li brought his knees up to his chin.

"In that case," Sakura stood up and stared at the ground, "You're not the same person I knew. The Syaoran I knew never gave up, no matter what. I guess whatever happened to him in Hong-Kong must have been pretty bad, because it seems to have destroyed him."

"Sakura,I-"

"Forget it." She said, her voice hardened. "As soon as you come back to my house you'll be leaving me again, probably forever. I hope the new Li enjoys his life inbreeding with his cousin. This time I'm not going to wait for him to come back."

"SAKURA!"

"I love you! I love you more than anything, and now you're leaving me and you're breaking my heart!"

"Why can't you just understand?! If I choose to stay here, then I disown my entire family!"

"I can understand perfectly! You go home! I'll just live the rest of my life as a nun and pretend I don't miss you! See you later, Li."

Sakura got on her wand and flew into the air so quickly that Li could hardly hear her sobs.

"Great." He muttered to himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Sakura got back to her house, Li's family was in the kitchen eating lasagna with her dad.

"Did you find him?" Kya, the youngest, asked her with a sympathetic expression on her face.

"I found a part of him. I think you should all leave now. He'll be coming back soon. I hope you're happy!" she yelled at his mother, then ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.

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Li walked to the edge of the water and stared into the murky depths.

'So it happened after all,' he thought to himself as he pulled the giant boulder out of the lake and placed it back on the shore, not really caring if he was seen.

Why did everything bad happen to him? Did his mother enjoy making him miserable? Melin probably fit into this somehow. If not then how did his mother find out where he was? (He looked across the lake and snapped a limb off a tree with his mind)

Li decided to go back to Sakura's house. After all, there was nowhere else to go. As he walked, his thoughts troubled him.

'How do I fix this? Will I ever see her again…How can I be so stupid!? The only person I've ever loved, and I go and do this to her. Do I really love my family that much? I guess I do. Will they appreciate it if I give up my life's happiness for them? They better damn well appreciate it. It looks like I've already given it up. I can just hear Nikki now, "What an idiot! How could he leave Sakura like that?" and then Chelsea, "I hope he burns in hell!"

'But I'm only worried about Sakura. Maybe I can get out of this. Maybe I can make Melin see that I don't love her. At least I'd be out of that situation.'

He suddenly found himself standing in front of Sakura's house. Li took a deep breath and opened the door………..

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A/N: Settle down, killer! I think I'm going to post the next chapter soon just so I don't receive all your hate mail! I just have to write it first. Hey, I have a web site! I'll put its whereabouts in the next chapter. Review!!!!